


Counting Magpies (One for Sorrow)

by joisbishmyoga



Category: Meitantei Conan | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Drabbles, Gen, daemon AU, what askerian wants askerian gets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-12
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-12-11 14:49:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/799935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joisbishmyoga/pseuds/joisbishmyoga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten daemon drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting Magpies (One for Sorrow)

One For Sorrow

Kaito's daemon settled the day they laid his father's ashes to rest.

She became a magpie, of course. Smaller than his father's, and not yet fully fledged, but they were still young. They'd grow.

_It's not uncommon_ , the psychologists told his mother. _A grieving child can hold his daemon in one shape for weeks, even months at this age. They'll grow out of it._

That was only the first time he proved the professionals wrong.

 

Two For Joy

When a falcon daemon screeched out of nowhere and nearly tackled Nusuni out of the sky, she and Kaito burst into maniacal laughter that was half panic, sending Kid's glider skidding dizzily across airspace. Finally, _finally_ , some bright bulb among the police had caught on to the fact that the entire Task Force was groundbound, mostly canines and warhorses, and had transferred in someone _effective_. 

When that 'someone effective' turned up the very next morning in Kaito's class, all buttoned up and smirky and seventeen years old too, Nusuni fell off Kaito's shoulder cackling.

Heists were going to become the _best rush ever_.

 

Three For A Girl

"Come here, then," Chikage said, patting the side of the crate she was sitting on. "Let's have a look at you."

Kaito spun, letting his red skirt flare out and tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear. On his bare shoulder, Nusuni mantled her wings.

"Oh, I have such a lovely daughter," Chikage purred. "But 'Shikaro' needs work, don't you, sweetie?"

"I hate this," Nusuni grumbled, hopping onto the witch's finger.

Sprawling more comfortably against the crate/his knees locked, Kaito braced against the floor as his eyes rolled back in his head/the magic coiled deep inside, round and round the base of her spine, heart pounding/really hate this, my fault, kaasan shouldn't be involved/oh hush going to protect my baby/NOT a baby, Kaasan!

And a young buck tottered into the floor, his antlers going foggy where they bumped against the wall. "Ow," Nusuni muttered. The deer dropped his head, rolling it back and forth against the floor. "Itchy itchy itchy--"

Kaito slid a hand under the elegant chin, the prickle of tiny bird talons and ruffled feathers warm against his skin, and lifted the real daemon under the illusion. "Poker Face, 'Shikaro'."

"Yeah, yeah, 's showtime. Off to the boat." The deer wobbled to his feet, hooves tapping against concrete. "I wanna bug the creepy kid."

'Mouri Ran' grinned in a very uncharacteristic way. "Lucky us. We get the whole evening with him at our mercy."

'Shikaro' smirked right back. "I love this job."

 

Four For A Boy

Nusuni couldn't dodge the kitten fast enough. It landed between her shoulder blades, a tiny fuzzball with pinprickle claws and a peeping mewl that didn't sound ferocious at all... until it shifted into a hiss like a teakettle whistle, and a snake -- as ginger-striped and tiny as the kitten had been -- sank needle-sharp fangs under Nusuni's chin.

That wasn't a surprise. A daemon kitten couldn't be old enough to have settled, after all. The shock came a second later, ice burning through Nusuni's flesh from the bite. The little brat was venomous!

She coughed out a chuckle through numbing vocal cords. "You _are_ a mean one... aren't you?"

The snake didn't answer. His little girl, on the next balcony up, did. "We prefer 'efficient'," she said coolly.

"What... a coincidence," Nusuni wheezed. Paralytic venom. Not enough to stop her heart or breathing, but she wouldn't be flying out of here anytime soon. However... "So do we."

Kid loomed out of the shadows on the balcony above and blasted sleep gas into the child's face. She slumped into one white-clad arm, her little snake following her into unconsciousness and pooling to the concrete alongside Nusuni. Kid then leapt over the balcony rail in a swirl of cape, landing in a crouch, and settled the child with one tiny manicured hand brushing cool scales.

" _Stop right there._ "

Nusuni couldn't see, but she knew the voice all too well. Blunt projectiles ahoy.

"Ah, Tantei-kun." Kid scooped Nusuni up in one hand, the other tipping his hat as he tucked her comfortably under one arm. Now Nusuni could see her favorite creepy detective and his bristling daemon, currently a rumpled brown-and-black terrier pup about the size of a grapefruit. "I'm disappointed," Kid added, mock-seriously. "You seem to be losing your edge."

The terrier let out a squeaky growl.

"Always lovely to meet your compatriots, Tantei-kun." He dropped a smoke bomb -- not a flash bomb, not with the girl close enough to get singed if it landed wrong -- and the world vanished from their eyes, gravity spinning as Kid backflipped into the cool night air. "Ciao!"

 

Five For Silver

Another year, another round of physicals. Kid hummed cheerfully as he paged through the stolen Task Force files, Nusuni perched on his primly crossed ankles and preening herself.

Exercise! Healthy living! That was the key to a long life... but still, some things had to be taken into account before Kid tempted his dear officers into haring off all over skyscrapers.

Like Doi's developing intolerance for one of the ingredients in his sleep gas. Kid mentally crossed the officer off the short list for impersonations. And Hosoda needed to lay off the doughnuts a bit. Time to shuffle him off the standing-guard roster and into the slowest chasing team. Give it a year, Kid would have Hosoda running marathons.

Then there was his favorite, Nakamori-keibu. Kid wriggled his fingers and popped the file into sight with a flourish.

"How's he doing?" Nusuni asked.

"Still improving from our hiatus," Kid answered, paging through long lists of numbers and medical jargon. "His cholesterol's down and his lung capacity's up again. Seems like all that yelling is doing him good."

"Gotta love aerobic exercise."

 

Six For Gold

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

Nusuni hopped back and forth on the classroom rafter, eyes pinned to the gleam of metal just two meters below. Mustn't get it. Mustn't get it. Mustn't--

"Problem, Nusuni-kun?" Nusuni froze, as Hekashi curled his ruffled-feather head around the edges of her field of vision. The Egyptian vulture's eyes crinkled in a smirk. "You seem to be watching Hakuba-kun very... very... closely."

"Go away, witch-bird." Before Watson overheard and spoiled it all.

"Why should I? You've gotten me all curious," he purred. "Could it be you've spotted something... _shiny?"_

_Nng._

"What ever could it be?" Hekashi mused teasingly. "I thought everyone knew not to bring shiny... gleaming... glittering... _gold--_ "

"I hate you _so much_ ," Nusuni hissed, before she spread her wings and dived. Had to get this right. Had to get it. Needed the _goddamn shiny gold fuck you very much Hekashi--_

_"Bloody fucking hell!_ " Hakuba roared. A chair crashed in Nusuni's wake, but she flew at breakneck speed into the hallway, Hakuba's pocketwatch dangling from its chain in her beak.

"Whoops sorry gotta go--!" She felt more than saw Kaito rushing after her... and there was no mistaking the pandemonium on his heels. Aoko's collie was barking like a lunatic, almost loud enough to cover Watson's furious shrieks.

"Kaitooooooo!" _Thwap!_

"Kuroba!"

"I'm sorry! She's a magpie! She gets bored! EEP!" _Thwap!_

Well, at least this was more fun than sitting in the rafters waiting for class to end. Also, _shiny get~!_

 

Seven For A Secret, Never To Be Told

"Hakuba-botchama." Saguru's cousin Kansatsu walked in, eyes bright with amusement over the top of a sheaf of papers. His lizard daemon nodded a quick greeting to Watson. "The lab results have come in." Saguru turned in his chair, raising an eyebrow expectantly, and the Task Force leaned in eagerly as Kansatsu began, "Height: 174.02 cm. Weight: 58.14 kg. Vision: Left 2.0, Right 2.0. IQ in the 99th percentile. Blood type B. Japanese descent, excels at sports except for ice skating, attentive but impatient, indeterminate bad habits, can imitate anyone's voice without electronic aid. Daemon..."

Nakamori-keibu all but shoved Saguru skidding out of the way. "Well?" Nakamori asked. "It says dove, right?"

"Er." Kansatsu glanced back down, shoved his glasses up on his nose mock-nervously, and said, "You have to understand, DNA only lists probabilities for daemons... nurture is extremely important after all..."

"Kansatsu-hakase," Saguru murmured.

"... Monkey. Sir."

"MONKEY?" Nakamori exploded. Kansatsu's lizard skittered into the collar of his lab coat. "I've been chasing that bastard for twenty years, and never once has he--" As the air around Nakamori began turning blue, Saguru caught his cousin's eyes over the officer's shoulder. Nakamori didn't even notice when Kansatsu handed the file past him to Saguru.

Hm. Monkey, 75%. Hummingbird, chameleon, giant otter, crowned crane ... magpie.

Well. How very _interesting._

 

Eight For A Wish

"D'you think he'll settle as an eagle again?" Nusuni asked, sprawled on Kaito's chest late one night.

"Nn?"

"Creepy-kun," Nusuni said. Kaito blinked his eyes open slowly, theatrically, as if he hadn't perked wide awake at the word 'eagle'. "He-Who-Is-So-Obviously--"

Kaito jostled her before she could say the name. "I doubt it."

"Yeah," Nusuni murmured. "We don't even know if he can settle again at all. Who knows what that weird... whatever it was... did?"

"I was thinking more that he's changed anyway," Kaito said. "Matured, in a way." Nusuni snorted, but yeah, she could see that. Amazing what having friends and being a marked man did to a guy. Kaito wistfully added, "He'd be so much more interesting a role than Kudou is."

"Yeah, good luck with that."

"... Do you think Kaasan's spell--"

"NO."

 

Nine For A Kiss

Nusuni pecked Kid lightly on a shoulder, just under the ruffled glider clip. "Stay focused," she warbled irritably.

"I am."

"Eyes _off_ the chocolate, then."

Whatever Hershey's executive had decided an international company exhibit was a great idea had to be as crazy as Kid. The prize for crazy, though, had to go to the owner of The Kiss: a massive round topaz with a very peculiar inclusion dead center, where gold deepened to a rich warm brown, almost exactly the same shape as its namesake candy.

Rumor was that the inclusion went Valentine-red under blacklight.

Still. Maybe he could swipe one of the littler chocolate sculptures while he was here, too...

" _No._ "

"Aw."

 

Ten For A Bird You Must Not Miss

It just didn't make sense. He'd blown the bastard up, shot him in the heart, seen him shot in the eye, shot his damned daemon whatever-it-was in the heart, and yet the Kaitou Kid kept coming back. Maybe fucking Toichi really didn't have a heart.

This time, though, Snake was going to get the fucking daemon in the _head_. Whatever it was. Today it looked like some stuck-up rich brat's black horse, all prissy high-stepped prancing and wild eyes like it was about to turn into someone's worst nightmare.

_All the better to ride into HELL, you fucking nine-lived bastard._

Snake sighted down the barrel of his sniper rifle, and...

Something stung the back of his neck.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Molting](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10979565) by [Procrastination_Sensation](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Procrastination_Sensation/pseuds/Procrastination_Sensation)




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